Volume 1: Sudden Battlefield Chapter 18

  The muddy water in the paddy field may be dirty and smelly, but the high embankment is a ready-made trench. Generally speaking, as long as it's not hit directly by artillery shells, nothing will happen.

  The several soldiers under me were not stupid either, and they quickly learned to lie down in front of the fields with me. The machine gunner even set up his machine gun and swept it across the Vietnamese army's position...

  It wasn't until later that I realized they were just following me, the class leader. But if you're going to follow me, then follow me! Why be in such a hurry to shoot? The devils are all hiding in the woods, we haven't seen anyone, what's the point of shooting like this? If we attract the enemy's firepower...

  "Stop! Stop... cease fire!"

  It wasn't until the machine gunner finally heard my voice that he hastily stopped his actions, pulled back his head, and stared blankly at me as if waiting for my command.

  After a while, the machine gunner didn't see any movement from me and asked in doubt: "Squad leader, what should we do now? Give us an order!"

  But what can I do? I'm the class leader, not a god! Do you want me to rush forward under the intense hail of bullets from the devils? Now I just hope that the devils' bullets and shells won't hit my head!

  At this time, a cadre wearing four-pocket military uniform suddenly came running up with several soldiers, crouching down and hiding beside us.

  "Camp!"

  It wasn't until I heard the cry of "Bayonets!" that I realized our battalion commander was right next to me...

  The company commander didn't have time to bother with us little soldiers, he carefully poked his head out to take a look at the enemy's high ground, then waved his hand and shouted to one of the soldiers beside him: "You! Charge across that open area in front, find the vanguard platoon and get them to come back and coordinate with us to attack the Vietnamese from both sides!"

  "Yes!" The soldier beside him responded with a loud voice, and without saying another word, he charged forward with his rifle, but just ran out of ten or twenty meters before falling in front of our eyes.

  The company commander didn't say a word, waved his hand and another one went up. This time he ran farther, but was also knocked down after running out of thirty or forty meters. He was hit by several high-speed machine gun bullets, the whole person was brought up by the inertia of the bullet and then heavily fell to the ground, instantly turning the paddy field into a red piece.

  Then there is the third one, the fourth one.

  Every time the company commander gave an order to charge, it was like a death sentence. Without exception, they would all fall under the enemy's hail of bullets after running just a few dozen meters. All I could see was a thrilling and terrifying scene, feeling that the company commander's hand was a harbinger of doom, one wave of his hand meant one life lost, another wave of his hand meant another life lost...

  At this time, the squad leader was already alone, but he still habitually waved his hand. After a long time, he didn't see anyone coming up, and he couldn't help but turn his head to scold me: "Doesn't he know what I mean? Why doesn't he come up?"

  "It's me?" It took me half a day to realize that the captain was coming for me this time.

  "Who else if not you?" The company commander scolded in a bad tone: "Go and notify the bayonet squad immediately, let them coordinate with us to launch an attack! Don't you see that the soldiers are sacrificing? Still not going up..."

  "Company Commander!" I looked at the four soldiers who had fallen in front of me and couldn't help but swallow my saliva, saying with difficulty: "If we could charge through, I'd definitely go! But now it's simply impossible to charge through, doing so would be a waste of our soldiers' lives..."

  The squad leader couldn't help but nod in agreement, thinking that what I said made sense. He suddenly clenched his fist and slammed it onto the ridge of the field, cursing: "Damn it! Where did this son of a bitch run off to..."

  "Captain! Where's the radio? Where's the walkie-talkie?" Xiaoshi asked as he walked up.

  "The radio is broken!" The company commander cursed dejectedly: "The intercom can't be reached... it's been called dozens of times, but nothing!"

  It was only later that we found out that it wasn't that the walkie-talkies weren't working, but rather that Jiulian Deputy Company Commander was afraid of battle. He had clearly heard the calls on the walkie-talkie but didn't respond. Not only did he not organize a counterattack to rescue his besieged comrades, but he himself hid in a cave and then used the excuse of reporting back to headquarters to abandon his post, with a small number of soldiers following him...

  The warriors no longer gathered on the highway, but dispersed and ran in the rice fields. Some troops even spontaneously organized a charge against the Vietnamese army's high ground... But it was useless. The highway had been completely blocked by the Vietnamese machine gun fire, while the muddy water and mud in the rice fields made it impossible for the warriors to run fast. The Vietnamese could easily knock down the warriors on the charging road...

  The artillery troops also organized a counterattack, after all, they knew that in this situation, if they didn't fight back, they would only wait for death. They quickly set up mortars and fired shells at the enemy's position "Boom! Boom! Boom!", but the shelling seemed to have no effect. Firstly, we simply did not know where the Vietnamese army was hiding, more importantly, those mortars were all set up in the rice fields, and the soft and loose mud could not withstand the recoil of the mortars at all. Some mortars fired a shell and then sank into the mud, losing their accuracy.

  Before the soldiers could pull out those mortars from the mud and readjust their positions, the enemy's machine gun bullets and shells came pouring in...

  "My damned Viet Cong!" Seeing this, the battalion commander instinctively drew out the pistol at his waist and shouted: "I'll fight it out with you all..."

  As he stood up and was about to rush forward, I quickly pulled him back with my quick eyes and hands. The other soldiers also rushed over to help and forcibly pressed the battalion commander back onto the ridge.

  "Captain! Don't be rash!" I advised: "Think of a way, there will always be a way! The soldiers are all waiting for your orders..."

  "What's the solution? Think of a solution!" The camp commander had lost his rationality, he hysterically shouted: "By the time we think of a solution, we'll all be dead!"

  Realizing this, I quickly understood that now I can only rely on myself. Even if it's not for the sake of the warriors, I must think of a way to make a move for my own sake. Otherwise, when the warriors are defeated, it will be our turn, those of us hiding in the fields...

  But what can be done about it?

  Rush up? That will only make us die faster.

  Retreat? That's also impossible!

  According to the battalion commander's intention, contact the bayonet company? This also seems unrealistic. Not to mention whether we can contact the bayonet company or not, even if we do and successfully pull them back to attack the Vietnamese army... However, the Vietnamese devils obviously intentionally let them escape from the ambush circle, will they not have any precautions?

  Suddenly, I saw a bamboo tube inserted beside the rice field, and water was flowing down with a "gurgling" sound. My heart moved involuntarily, and I thought that the paddy fields must have been irrigated for a long time, and where there is irrigation, there must be canals... So I stuck my head out and looked upstream along the water, and indeed, I vaguely saw a canal full of aquatic plants on the left side. Following that canal and looking up, my heart involuntarily felt a thrill - this ditch actually led all the way to the high ground on the left flank of the Viet Minh!

  At this, I involuntarily drew back my head and said to the company commander: "Company Commander! I'll lead the soldiers to sneak into the enemy's position, you wait below, when you hear the enemy's gunfire getting chaotic, bring the troops up!"

  "Are you going to sneak into the enemy's position?" The battalion commander couldn't help but feel a wave of doubt upon hearing this.

  Time is life, I don't have time to explain so much, I waved my hand at the few soldiers under me and led them along the ridge towards the irrigation canal...

  It's just as the saying goes, "If you haven't eaten pork, you've at least seen a pig run." After watching so many war movies, I also know to crouch and walk when running. Actually, I think this doesn't need to be learned because who wouldn't think of their own life? Who can really charge forward with their chest out like in TV shows and movies without any cover? I don't think such a scene would appear on a real battlefield, as doing so would only result in sacrificing one's own life without helping the situation at all.

  A few of us would crawl forward at times and squat down to run sideways, it's actually easy to distinguish when to lie down and move slowly and when to get up and run, for me this is completely determined by the height of the fields on both sides.

  The canal is not far from our location, roughly only over two hundred meters, but it still took us over ten minutes to hurry there.

  Ran to the front of the water ditch and took a look, couldn't help but cry out in distress... This thing is dug too shallow, one person squatting down will still expose their head, I think this is also the reason why the devils didn't guard this water ditch.

  But I didn't hesitate for a moment, things had come to this and we had no way out, so with a "thud" I jumped in and lay down in the water ditch... Fortunately, it was just enough for one person to lie in, and the dense aquatic plants on both sides of the ditch could be our good cover, but what made me a bit painful was... The water in this ditch was quite deep, which forced me to lift my head high.

  The several soldiers under me also jumped in one by one and followed me to lie down in the water ditch.

  At that time, when all the soldiers looked up to me as their leader, I indeed felt a sense of pride that was out of the ordinary. Just a few days ago, I was still being ordered around by the old man because of my inheritance, but now it's my turn to give orders.

  But I also know that this kind of leadership comes at a price, which is to lead them to victory. Otherwise, if we lose several battles, not to mention losing credibility, most of these people will be dead and who can I order around then?

  At this time, I didn't dare to think too much, turned around and ordered the warriors: "Get ready for battle, we will sneak up on the enemy's high ground along this ditch, and then cooperate with the main force to take down the enemy's high ground! Did you hear that?"

  "Understood!" The warriors said so with their mouths, but unexpected colors flashed in their eyes.

  I know what they're thinking, they all thought I wanted to use this ditch to escape, but unexpectedly I'm thinking of attacking...

  The old man once said: Attack is the best defense!